Film holder



Sept. 17, 1940. J. c. JETER ET AL 2,215,397

' FILM HOLDER Filed March 1, 1940 (a, @Ww

Patented Sept. 11, 1940 UNITED STATES FILM HOLDER Jerry C. Jeter and Bessie G. Jeter,

' Upper Lake, Calif,

Application March 1,

Claims.

Our invention relates to photographic apparatus; and more particularly to a holder and hanger for out films and film pack negatives v during the process of developing and drying the 5 same.

So far as we are aware, or have been able to ascertain from extensive investigation, devices now in use for this purpose have serious objectionable features. For instance; some of these devices have clamping portions provided with sharp points which cut rough holes not only on the edges of the films, but often over into the negatives, thereby marring the negatives, as well as leaving rough points to scratch other films that may contact them. I

Again, we have found that the inventors of these devices, in some cases, have not reckoned with the laws of contraction and expansion which come into full play during the development of the above named films; and therefore the devices are made to fit, more or less exactly, the undeveloped films; then, when the films are placed in the warm developing fluid, they expand and bulge, in some cases, entirely out of the devices.

We have found another class of cases in which the films are clamped to a main stem in the middle of one end of the pack of films, which arrangement permits them to expand and contract freely; but when the films thus held are immersed in deep tanks of developer, they float, whirl, assume various contortions and strike each other or near-by objects. In many cases they drop to the bottom of the deep developing tank, 35 where, in fishing them out, they are in one way and another, marred beyond use.

One of the main objects of our invention is to provide a device which will hold cut and film pack photographic films of varying sizes during 40 the process of developing, and return them after the developing process, as free from scratches, perforations, abrasions, or other defects or blemishes of any kind, as they were when placed in the developer--marless, so far as the operation 4,5 of the holder itself is concerned.

Another object is to provide a device of this character, so constructed that any one of the devices will hold films of any and all sizes, from the smallest film made, up to thelargest sized film for which any given holder is intended.

Still another object is to provide a device of this character, so constructed that the films may be placed in it or removed therefrom, with the utmost ease-even in a dark room.

A Mther obiect is to provide a photographic 1940, Serial No. 321,772

film holder on which there is no place for chemicals to lodge, thereby rendering the device free from corrision, and easy to be cleaned.

A still further object, akin to the last named object, is to provide a film holder made of material impervious to the photographic chemicals used in developing films.

A final object here mentioned is to provide a device of the character named which will be very simple and cheap in construction, and withal durable, and having no parts calculated to easily get out of order, or broken in constant use.

Other minor objects will appear in the subjoined description.

The device is brief, is composed principally of a rectangular'frame forreceiving the films, and a wire guard formed of two parts surrounding the frame, one of said parts embracing the back and upper and lower ends of the frame, and being rigidly secured thereto; and the other part disposed parallel to said first-named part, and located on the front side of the frame, said parts of the wire guard being detachably hinged together at the lower end of the frame, and arranged for detachable snap connection with each other at the upper end of the frame, the guard being provided at its upper end with aloop serving as a bail for handling the device while manipulating it in the developing fluid, and for hanging it up by for drainage and drying of the films after the developing treatment is completed.

The invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which;

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of our improved holder when in its closed position. Fig. 2 is a central vertical section, showing the device as it appears when holding a film ready to be developed. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the device in its closed position; and, Fig. 4 is a top plan view, on a reduced scale, showing the device open, ready to have a film placed therein to be developed.

Referring further to the drawing, the numeral I indicates the frame proper of the device which is formed throughout, preferably of stainlesssteel to render it immune from corrosive attack by photographic chemicals. This frame is provided at its upper end and sides with narrow inturned flange sections la. and 20 respectively, and these side flanges 2a have at their upper end portions slightly upturned lips Zab. At the lower end of the frame proper these side flanges 2a merge into a broad, upwardly-inclined transverse section 3 (see Fig. 3), to give greater strength to the lower end of the frame, and to form one side of a jaw for clamping the films, as will be referred to later.

The wire guard of the device is formed of two parts, the first of which comprises two parallel wires on the under side of the frame, extending longitudinally thereof, each being equidistant from the longitudinal center of the frame; said wires being rigidly secured near their upper ends to the flange la of the frame, and near their lower ends to the jaw member 3. Each of these wires is provided at its upper end with a rightangled upwardly extending bent section 4a terminating just above the top edge of the frame in a hook 5; and at their lower ends each of said wires 4 is provided with a section 6 bent to conform to the inclination of the jaw member 3, and terminating in a right-angled upwardly extending hook I.

The other part of the wire guard comprises two parallel wires 8 on the upper side of the frame immediately above the two wires just described on the under side thereof. These wires are connected tokether at their upper ends by a loop 8a, and at their lower ends are rigidly secured, by brazing 9 or otherwise, to the inclined jaw member II], which is a companion member to the similarly inclined jaw member 3 already described. The lower ends of the guard wires 8 extend beyond the jaw member ID, sufiiciently to form the upwardly-turned hooks 8b, which are adapted to engage the hooks 1 of the two parallel bars 4, located on the under side of the frame in a way to form a hinge connection between the two jaw members 3 and ID, and also at the same time between the upper and lower sections of the wire guard.

Inasmuch as the two wires 8 forming the upper section of the wire guard are connected together at their upper ends by the loop 8a, said upper ends may be easily pressed toward each other to cause them to have snap engagement with the upwardly extending hooks 5 of the lower section of said wire guard.

All the rigid connections between the parts of the wire guard and the other parts of the device may be made in any preferred manner, but are shown in the drawing as if made by soldering or brazing, as indicated in the drawing at 9.

In this connection, attention is called to the fact that the points on the jaw members 3 and H], where the wires 4 and 8 are respectively brazed or soldered thereto, are near the upper sides of said jaw members, which arrangement leaves the lower sides of said jaw members (which are purposely made of very thin yielding material), more or less free to spring somewhat outwardly from each other when the jaws are required to rip a film.

The operation of our device is exceedingly simple. When it is desired to place films in the holder, the two wires 8 forming the upper part of the wire guard are pressed'toward each other near their upper ends, sufliciently to disengage them from their respective retaining hooks 5, and this part of the guard is thrown backwardly, as illustrated in Fig 4, and the films to be treated, are laid in the frame with their lower edges practically abutting the hinge hooks 8b, in which position said ends of the films are sure to be gripped by the V-shaped jaw members 3, l0, when said members are returned to their normal closed position, as illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawing,

When the holder is in its open position, as illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawing, it will be seen that the hooks 8b are turned downwardly, so that a simple thrust of the wires 8 to the left will disengage the upper part of the wire guard from the frame, if that should at any time be desired.

The frame is always made somewhat larger than the largest films to be treated therein, so that there will be ample room for the expansion which takes place in the films when they are immersed in the warm developing fluid; and as the films are only gripped at one end, they are free to expand both longitudinally and laterally. The films are usually large enough to lap thee flange Ia at the upper end of the frame, and the flanges 2a at the sides thereof, in which case the upturned lips Zab at the upper end of the flanges 2a will contact the upper-corner edges of the films and prevent them from even touching the guard wires 4--4 on the under side of the frame, as illustrated in Fig. 2. If films not long enough to reach up to the lips Zab and not wide enough to extend laterally to the framefianges 2a, are inserted in the holder, they will still be gripped at their lower end by the V-jaw members, and if their upper ends are swayed appreciably in the frame, the angle of inclination from the bottom to the top of such films will be so great that only the extreme upper edge of the films will contact the lower guard wires 4. Hence, it will be seen that if a film were as small as a postage stamp, it could be handled with one of these frames which are large enough to handle films of ordinary commercial sizes.

It should be clearly understood that in the operation of the device, the frame takes only one film at a time, since two or more warm, wet films would stick to each other.

. When the film to be developed has been laid in the frame, the upper part of the guard comprising the two parallel wires 8 and the jaw member II! are swung upwardly and then downwardly, and brought into snapped engagement with the hooks 5 at the upper end of the frame. The frame carrying the film can then be dipped in the developing fluid, the loop 8a at the upper end of the frame serving first as a handle for manipulating the device in the developing fluid, and then as a bail to hang up the device by to permit the film to drain and become dry.

We desire to stress the fact that these holders need no adjustment whatever in order to accommodate films of different sizes. For instance; a 4 inch by a 5 inch holder will take any sized film from a 4 by 5 size down to the smallest film made, without any adjustment whatsoever.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that we have provided a construction which accomplishes all the objects set forth in the beginning of this specification, and avoids all the disadvantages there pointed out; and therefore admirably meets all the requirements of a first-class device of the character herein described.

What we claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is:

1. A device of the character described, comprising a rectangular frame for receiving the films, and a wire guard at the upper side of the frame for holding the films in the frame; a pair of companion jaw members at the lower end of the frame for gripping the films, one of said jaw members being rigidly attached to the frame, and the other rigidly attached to the wire guard.

said jaw members being detachably hinged to each other at their lower edges to adapt the guard member to open and close on the frame; and;

films against lateral play in the frame; a pair of companion jaw members extending transversely of the frame at the lower end thereof for gripping the films at their lower ends, one of said jaw members being rigidly attached to the lower end of the frame, and the other rigidly attached to the lower end of the wire guard, said jaw members being hinged together at their lower edges to adapt the guard member to open and close on the frame; and cooperating means at the upper end of the frame and the upper end of the guard for detachable engagement with each other.

3. A device of the character described, comprising a rectangular frame, and a wire guard formed in two parts, one of said parts embracing the back and the upper andlower ends of the frame, and being rigidly secured thereto, and the other part disposed parallel to. said rigidly connected part, and located on the front side of the frame, said upper and lower parts of the wire guard being hinged together at the lower end of the frame, and arranged for detachable engagement with each other at its upper end; and means at the lower end of the frame between said hinged guard sections for gripping the films when the guard sections are in their closed position.

4. A device of the character described, comprising a rectangular frame for receiving the films, said frame having rims at its upper end and at its two sides, and a rigid jaw member at its lower end, the side rims at their lower edges being provided with narrow, inturned, right-an gled flanges, said flanges having near their upper ends slightly upturnededges to form lips for the upper ends of the films to rest upon, the upward extent of said lips being a distance materially less than the depth of the rims of the frame; a. wire guard disposed longitudinally of the frame, and formed in two parts, an upper and a lower,

. the lower part being rigidly connected to the under side of the frame and said rigid jaw member at the lower end thereof, the upper part of said guard member being disposed parallel with said rigidly-connected under part; and having at its lower end a rigidly-connected jaw member adapted to form a companion member for said firstnamed jaw member; and means at the lower ends of the two parts of the wire guard for forming a hinge connection for said jaw members, and

' means at their upper ends for detachable engagement with each other.

-5. In a device of the character described, an elongated frame for receiving the films; a pair of cooperating jaw members at the lower end of the frame for gripping the films; a wire guard formed in two parts, an upper and a lower part, and extending longitudinally around the frame, said jaw members being comparatively broad and formed of thin material to adapt them for easy yielding when subjected to lateral strain, the lower part of the wire guard being rigidly secured at its upper end to the upper end of the frame, and at its lower end to one of said yielding jaw members near the upper edge thereof, the upper part of the wire guard being rigidly secured near the lower end thereof, to the upper side of the other one of said jaw members, said upper and lower parts of said wire guard being hinged together at their lower ends undedneath the lower edge of the jaw members, and formed of flexible wire capable of easy lateral yielding under strain; and means at the upper ends of the two parts of the wire guard for detachable engagement with each other.

JERRY C. JETER. BESSIE G. JETER. 

